Elvie’s Most Fun Milestone Yet

When we first found out about Elvie, the adoption agency wanted us to wait for the results of a CT scan before we made our decision to adopt her. We knew from the get go that we were willing to accept whatever risks and unknowns existed, but I figured that if it would make the agency feel better to put that information into our hands before we officially pursued her adoption, then that was fine. A surgeon looked over the CT scan, but he told the agency that the results were inconclusive. The only thing he could tell us was that her right leg may or may not be usable. It wasn’t a definite yes or no. I knew that we could figure it all out later, and that what I wanted most for her was whatever the best possible outcome would be, given her difficult beginnings. If there was a walker or a wheelchair or neither of those things, it would be okay.

When we brought Elvie home with us and pursued care stateside, we got much better imaging, but the fate of her right leg was still called into question. The doctor even spoke of the possibility of amputation, telling us that it was better if she would learn to use a prosthetic early in her life. But I looked at her leg and her sweet little right foot, and I thought, “No, I think we should keep it. I think she can use it. I think she’s going to surprise everyone.” Lo and behold, once her big surgery was done, she started to work with the right leg, bringing it into the proper position for walking. And then today, just shy of six months since her surgery, she stood, grabbed our toy shopping cart, and took off. It was all I could do to leap up from sorting laundry in time to catch her in action on a quick video. She is fast, and she is proud. This is her big moment.

Her right leg clearly works just fine, and I am so excited that she is so close to walking. We didn’t know if she would walk independently before her next big surgery, and now it looks like she will figure it out. I am so excited for her, and I cannot wait to see the ways that she will continue to surprise us all in the future.

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